By
Volume 1, Number 3 (Spring 1991)
Issue theme: "A world without borders?"

A recent issue of American Demographics points to population figures as it emphasizes market opportunities for its subscribers

Today's US Asian population is almost 8 million, or 3 percent of the total US population and, largely due to immigration, is the fastest-growing group of people in the nation.

Today's US Hispanic population is 20.1 million, 8.2 percent of the entire population. It is growing at a rate nearly five times as fast as the rate of growth of the non-Hispanic population since 1980.

You'll know it's the Twenty-first Century when everyone belongs to a minority group. So says American Demographics magazine in their December 1990 issue. Research editor Judith Waldrop advanced 21 trends based on statistics and the first on the list was this one related to population. As the 20th century closes, white men are already less than half of the labor force. By 2010, married couples will no longer be a majority of households. Asians will outnumber Jews by a margin of two to one, and Hispanics will lead Blacks as the nation's largest minority. But it will take until 2039, the year the youngest baby boomer turns 75, for that generation to cease to dominate consumer markets. By 2020, immigration will become more important to US population growth than natural increase (the growth that occurs because births outnumber deaths). The population will diversify even more rapidly. Diversity creates opportunities for business, but targeting so many cultures, age groups and life-styles with the right products and messages will be an unprecedented challenge.